Posted on 11/17/2017 5:13:14 PM PST by nickcarraway
If you could read his mind, what a tale his thoughts could tell. So claimed Gordon Lightfoot in his 1970 breakout hit, the song that would launch his career as one of the most consistently satisfying singer-songwriters of the decade and would subsequently be recorded by some 300 other artists.
There was a lot of musical confession in those days, with James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell and so many others wearing their hearts on their lyric sleeves. Yet Lightfoot generally kept his mind to himself. A reserved Canadian, he played his emotional cards comparatively close to his vest, rarely granting interviews and rarely saying much when he did. Even in live performance, he came across as a tight-lipped stoic, the troubadour as rugged northwoodsman.
So, its a revelation here to find Lightfoot opening up at all. Not surprisingly, the biographer to whom he has confided is a fellow Canadian, veteran music journalist Nicholas Jennings, who enjoyed his subjects full cooperation. Not that this is a kiss-and-tell book. But, regrets, he has a few, and Lightfoot airs them. He has paid a price for keeping his feelings to himself, for letting his career consume his private life, for drinking himself numb. It took him three marriages and assorted relationships (at least one of them borderline toxic) to give him a sense of how to be a husband and a father.
We learn that the smooth surface of his signature sound belies the turbulence that has inspired some of his most memorable material, such as the enigmatic Sundown (an obsessive jealousy corrodes the soul) and even If You Could Read My Mind (a beguiling melody that finds a marriage on the rocks). In Lightfoots songcraft, still waters run deep, or at least deeper than youd expect for someone who became branded
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
His “Don Quixote” inspired me as a youngster. “Through the woodlands, through the valleys, comes a horseman wild and free ...”
“For my taste, hes no Led Zeppelin.”
Check out these kids from Michigan. Original music. The lead singer does Robert Plant better than Robert Plant.
Greta Van Fleet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJg4OJxp-co
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXdM1rqSlSQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufSj7bXnAmI (my favorite)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZUD-5oa7Hc
He isn’t dead.
And have you ever heard his version of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"? Haunting.
And so many more ...
Since I had nothing better to do, I snooped around a little and found a couple of versions; one using “drugstore” and one using “drugstores.”
But it’s ok. I used to think “Who the hell is Leslie?” as in “you and me and Leslie......groovin”.............
;^)
What’s so hard about understanding....
...the pump don’t work ‘cause the vandals took the handle....
LOL...I always thought it was ‘You and me and lets be, groovin’’..
LOL...reminds me of...’The pool’s in, but the patio ain’t dry’....
Those 2 I was talking about were my favorites of his but Cotton Jenny, Rainy Day People, Sundown and Carefree Highway rate pretty high.........;)
I guess it’s in the “ear” of the beholder but Dylan whoa! I used to make my grandkids laugh by “singing” like Dylan. The guy half hollered BUT I must admit Like A Rolling Stone brings back some good memories of growing up in the 60’s.....;)
Weird Al is hilarious........lol
I love singing that song. The different tempos are fun.
Strange that I’m reading this thread right now because “If You Could Read My Mind” just played on my Spotify Daily Mix.
I could listen to that song all day. I was curious to when that song was released and discovered it was released in December, 1970. That was the Month and Year of my birth. Yes, I’m old:)
As you probably know, the song is about his divorce. The line “But you’ll never read that book again, because the ending’s just too hard to take” always gets to me.
I’ll admit that, until a few years ago, I wasn’t aware that “Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald” was based on a true story because I was too young to remember the tragedy.
I read that Mr. Lightfoot still attends the memorial ceremony every year for the sailors who perished on the Edmund Fitzgerald. He seems like a classy gentleman.
My father (RIP) sang his song, “Beautiful” at my wedding. GL really isn’t one of my favorite performers, but he is a good songwriter and I think that particular song *is* beautiful.
That sounds like a wonderful memory of your father.
a friend went to another of his concerts, however, and said he was drunk/stoned...
we're human...
“boatload of hits”????...listen to his albums/cd’s etc....some of his best work was the songs never released as singles...
My dad is the one who died. Not GL.
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